Single-piece brief



Jam-21,1970 l RLBEARD-ETAL. v -3 .491,315

SINGLE-PINE'l BRIEF Filed Jan. 15, 1968 5 v Y l 2 sheets-sheet A 1 '25e INVNTORS RALPH I .BEARD '2e '2f '2 f J. FRED HEsTER ATTORNEYS f Jan'. 27, 1970 R. L. BEARD ETAL SINGLE-PIECE BRIEF- Filed Jan. 15, 196s l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVNTORS RALPH L. BEARD J. FRED HEsTER Wj QQQ/ ATTORNEY United States Patent G U.S. Cl. 2-224 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A single-piece brief is constructed directly from a tubular section of knitted material. The section is flattened and then cut generally perpendicularly to the folded edges to form a waist opening, generally parallel to the folded edges to form the y portion and along a curved line intermediate the folded edges to from the leg portion, one folded edge being retained. The blank so produced is unfolded and arranged so that the outer ends overlap'. The basic garment is formed by the sewing together of selected edges of the overlapping ends and of opposed lower portions created when the leg portions are formed.

The present invention relates to mens underwar and more particularly to the type of mens underwear known as briefs.

In accordance with a conventional manner of preparing cotton material, the stock material is produced in the form of a knitted tube or cylinder. For this reason it is advantageous to manufacture items of apparel directly from the tube of material without rst cutting the material into more conventional and readily usable shapes. Parts of a number of garments have been made more or less directly from tubular material, an example being T-shirts in which the tube of material forms the body portion thereof. Portions of mens underwear have also been constructed in this manner generally with the tubular material forming an opening for the trunk of the wearer.

Another important consideration in the manufacture of garments of this type is that of the number of separate pieces of material which go into forming the finished garment. It will be appreciated that, in general, the fewer number of pieces used the less cutting, sewing, handling and the like is required. For these reasons garments which are of single-piece construction are generally superior to those of multiple pieces from the standpoint of manufacturing cost. Further, briefs of one piece construction have fewer seams than multiple-piece garments. This is an important advantage in that the few the seams the more comfortable the garment. Additionally, singlepiece garments stretch more evenly thus providing more comfort for the wearer as well as less permanent deformation of the garment.

Another factor to be considered in the manufacture of garments of this type is that of full usage of the stock garment material. It is self-evident that a method of manufacture is desirable which enables substantially all of a section of material to be used with little wastage.

The present invention provides a novel mans brief which is of single-piece construction and thus embodies all the advantages of garments of this type. ln accordance with an important feature of the invention the brief is manufactured in a manner in which material wastage is low. The present invention further provides a method for manufacture of the brief wherein tubular material as originally produced is utilized directly.

The brief of the present invention includes a fly portion formed without the addition of any further material and wherein the only further elements thereof consist "ice of whatever form of waistband and ieg building that is desired.

In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the instant invention a tubular section of material is laid at and cut on three sides with one fold in the tubular material comprising the fourth side. The garment blank or panel produced by the cutting is symmetrical about the fold. To form the garment the outer edge portions of the blank are arranged to overlap. The basic garment is formed by joining the lower edges of the front and back portions formed by the pattern and sewing the overlapping portions in selected areas.

The pattern for the brief in accordance with the present invention is such that there is little wastage of material. Apart from the very narrow pieces of material cut off to form the edge of the blank on the side opposite the retained fold the only portion of the tubular material which does not from part of the garment is that portion cut out to form the leg holes. This portion is of such a size and shape to be readily usable in other garment constructions.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a tubular section of material as produced by a knitting machine.

FIGURE 2 is a plan View of the material of FIGURE l after being laid hat, whereon a pattern for constructing mens briefs in accordance with the present invention is shown,

FIGURE 3 is a front View of a blank of material cut from the pattern shown in FIGURE 2, y

FIGURE 4 is a front view of the blank material of FIGURE 3 folded to form the trunk portion of the brief.

FIGURE 5 is a front view of the -nished brief, and

FIGURE 6 is a bottom view of the brief of FIGURE 5.

Fabric used in the manufacture of briefs of this type is produced by knitting machines in the form of a continuous tubular piece of material denoted by numeral 10 in FIGURE l. ln accordance with the present invention this tube of material 10 is taken directly from the knitter and laid flat as shown in FIGURE 2. The tubular material 10 is cut in accordance with a pattern generally indicated by reference numeral 11 to form blanks or panels 12 and 14. Pattern 11 is of the configuration shown in FIGURE 2 and is described below in terms of the cuts made in material 10 to form panels 12 and 14.

As will be apparent, each of the material Iblanks 12, 14 is used to construct individual garments. The formation of a brief from blank 12 will be described hereinafter in some detail.

Blank 12 is formed by a series of cuts including a straight transverse cut forming edge 12a and a cut generally parallel to the longitudinal extent of the tubular section 10, which forms short straight edges 12b and 12C generally perpendicular to edge 12a and an intervening shallow concave curved edge 12d. Edge 12b actually forms an angle of approximately with edge 12a. A second generally transverse cut forms a pair of short straight edges 12e and 12]c perpendicular to edges 12b and 12C and an intervening deep concave curved edge 12g. Edge 12g includes a first straight-line segment which forms a right angle with edge 12e at its intersection therewith and a second straight line segment which forms a forty-five degree angle with edge 12f at its intersection therewith. The intermediate section of edge 12g between the angleforming sections is generally semi-circular in shape as shown in FIGURE 2.

It is noted that similar cuts are used to form blank 14. The lower portion of blank 14 (actually the upper portion as viewed in FIGURE 2) is formed by the horizontal cuts forming edges 12e and 12jc of blank 12 and a cut forming deep concave curved edge 14g similar to the cut forming edge 12g. As can be seen in FIGURE 2 a generally triangular shaped section of material 16 is formed by the cuts creating edges 12g and 14g. Section 16, which is actually two sections because of the doubling of material 10, although not used in the present garments is of such size and shape to be readily usable in other garments. One such use is in the backs for boys underwear. The cornplete blank 14 is created by cuts forming edges 14b, 14C, 14d and 14a which correspond to edges 12b, 12C, 12d and 12a described above.

The tubular material 10 includes folded edges 10a and 10b when laid flat and edge 10a forms the fourth side of the blank 12. Thus when blank 12 is unfolded, two halves symmetrical about fold 10a are created as is shown in FIGURE 3. The edges of the symmetrical half not seen in FIGURE 2 have been given thesame numbers primed in FIGURES 3-6 as the corresponding edges of the half seen in FIGURE 2. Blank 12 as seen in FIGURE 3 generally comprises a pair of front portions A and A and a back portion B.

Referring to FIGURE 4, to form the basic garment blank 12 is arranged in a generally cylindrical shape so that front portions A and A' overlap. Adjacent edges 12a, 12a form a trunk opening in the garment while the leg openings are formed by edges 12g and 12g', respectively. The basic garment is completed by sewing the front portion created by the overlapping of members A, A to the back portion B. The line where these portions are joined is indicated by numeral 21 in FIGURE 6.

Although shown slightly askew in FIGURE 4 for purposes of illustration it will be understood that portions A and A are exactly aligned in the finished garment. To attach portions A and A to one another, edge 12b is sewn to that portion of front member A opposite to it. Edge 12b is similarly sewn to member A. In like manner the .opposing segments of edges 12a and 12a where portions A and A overlap are also sewn together. At the lower area of the garment, edge 12C of portion A is sewn to the opposing perpendicular segment of edge 12g of portion A and correspondingly edge 12e is sewn to the opposing perpendicular segment of edge 12g'. Opposing edges 12e and 12e are also sewn together to form the lower edge of the front portion of the garment. Edges 12d and 12d are left unsewn and form a fly opening for the garment. As described above, the lower edge of the front portion of the garment formed by sewn together edges 12e, 12e' and the lower edge of the rear portion B constituted by the continuous edge formed by adjacent edges 12f and 12j" (see FIGURE 3) are sewn together thereby creating the crotch portion of the garment.

As is shown in FIGURE 5 the nished brief includes an elastic-type waistband 18 attached to the upper edge 12a, 12a of the garment and leg bindings 20a and 20'b secured to the leg openings formed by edges 12g and 12g', respectively. In addition sewing strips 22 may be supplied for the exposed stitching not covered by the waistband 18 and the leg bindings 20a, 20h. Sewing strips 22a, 22b are located between the waistband 18 and leg bands 20a, 20b, along straight lines extending along and downwardly from edges 12b and 12b', respectively, as shown. A third strip 22C extends along edge 12d' which forms the outer portion of the tfly. A similar strip (not shown) extends along the inner portion of the fly formed by edge 12d.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the basic garment is formed by a single blank of material directly from tubular material and, further, is formed with a minimum of cutting and manipulating steps. The fly portion is formed without any additional material. It will also be appreciated that material wastage is very low with only that portion of the material between the outer edges 12b, 12d, 12C, etc., and folded edge 10b being actually 4 lost in that central cut-out section 16 is readily usable in other garments.

Depending, of course, on the length of tubular material 10 employed, the cut forming edge 12a (or edge 14a) may also form an edge of the next blank in line. Portions of such blanks are indicated by numerals 15 and 17 in FIG- URE 2. Thus a length of material 10 may contain a pattern 11 comprising a series of pairs of facing blanks like blanks 12 and 14 having a central section like section 16 located therebetween. The outer straight edges of the blank pair (corresponding to edges 12a and 14a) lie adjacent to corresponding edges of the next pair of blanks on either side (portions 15 and 17 being shown).

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiment of the invention shown and described herein is subject to modification without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the invention is not limited by the exemplary embodiment shown and described.

Having thus described our invention in accordance with the Patent Statutes,

We claim:

1. A method for constructing a single-piece brief comprising the steps of taking a tubular section of knitted material, laying said tubular section flat so that a double thickness having two longitudinal folded edges is formed, outlining a pattern on said material, cutting out a blank in accordance with said pattern while retaining one of said folded edges, said cutting step including cutting along a line adjacent to but spaced from the folded edge of said tubular section opposite said retained folded edge, said line joining upper and lower edges of the blank, unfolding said blank, arranging the outer end portions of said blank so that there is substantial overlapping thereof to form the front portion of the brief, stitching said overlapping portions to form the fly opening portion for said brief, and attaching the front portion of said blank to an opposing rear portion of said blank to produce the crotch portion of the brief.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the cutting step further includes cutting along a straight line perpendicular to said retained folded edge.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said cutting step further includes cutting along :a straight line generally parallel to said retained folded edge, cutting along a shallow concave curved line, cutting along a second straight line generally parallel to said retained folded edge, cutting along a second straight line generally perpendicular to said retained folded edge, cutting along a deep concave curved line, and cutting along a third line generally perpendicular to said retained folded edge, said third line intersecting with said retained folded edge.

4. A section of stock material for constructing a singlepiece brief comprising :a flattened tubular length of material forming a double thickness with two straight longitudinally folded edges and a pattern outlined on said length of material, said pattern comprising a rst line comprising a straight line perpendicular to and intersecting one of said straight folded edges, a second line |comprising a first line segment intersecting said first straight line at generally right angles thereto, a curved segment of shallow concave shape, and a second straight segment lying generally in the same straight line as said first line segment, and a third line comprising a rst straight line segment perpendicular to and intersecting s-aid second line segment of said second line, a curved line segment of deep concave shape, and a second line segment perpendicular to and intersecting said one of said straight folded edges, whereby when a blank is cut out from said material in accordance with said pattern said blank includes said one of said folded edges.

5. An article of manufacture in accordance with claim 4 wherein said pattern further includes a fourth line comprising a straight line segment, said segment being a continuation of the second segment of ysaid second line, a

curved segment of shallow concave shape and a second straight line segment lying in generally the same straight line as said rst segment, and a fth line lying generally perpendicular to and intersecting said second segment of said fourth line, and a sixth line joining the rst and second segments of said third line, said sixth line being the mirror image of the curved line segment of said third line, said curved line segments of said third and sixth lines enclosing a generally triangular shaped area.

6. An article of manufacturing in accordance with claim 4 wherein the angle between said first line and said trst line segment of said second line is approximately 95.

7. An article of manufacture in accordance with claim 4 wherein said curved line lsegment of said third line includes a straight line portion generally parallel to said one of said longitudinal folds, a second straight line portion lying at an angle of approximately 45 with said one of said folded edges, and a gener-ally semi-circular curved portion joining said rst and second `straight portions.

8. An article of manufacture in accordance with claim 4 wherein said first line segment of said second line is :approximately one-half as long as said second line segment of said second line.

9. An article of manufacture in accordance with claim 4 wherein said rst and third lines extend substantially across the full width of said tubular length of material.

10. An article of manufacture in accordance with claim 4 wherein said rst line segment of said third line is approximately one-half as long as said third line segment of said third line.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,575,701 11/1951 Artzt.

FOREIGN PATENTS 9/ 1960 Italy. 10/1950 Swiss.

U.S. C1. X.R. 2-243 

